Despite what the twitterverse thinks, Missy Elliott never really went M.I.A. She released two singles with Timbaland in 2012 and has been producing and writing songs with other artists like Faith Evans and Monica. Elliott's currently scheduled to appear on a remix of Jack Ü's (Diplo and Skrillex) dance hit "Take Ü There", so get ready to hear her... roar.

Since Elliott hasn't released a solo album in a decade, it's easy to forget this Grammy award-winning artist has collected a total of 166 awards and dropped five platinum albums (one reaching double-platinum status) during her career, but this year's NFL Super Bowl XLIX has placed Elliott back on her throne.

Billboard reported:
"Industry sources suggest Elliott's catalog of songs could earn a sales increase of around 1,000 percent in the week ending Feb. 1, jumping to perhaps 70,000 (or more) downloads sold. That would be up from just 6,000 in the week ending Jan. 25, according to Nielsen Music."

"I think it's cool new kids think I'm a new artist," Elliott tweeted. "That goes to show you that I'm still on [fire] & will rip down stages 20 years later."

Here's what the artist has said about her hiatus. Quotation above via ebony.com.

According to my Facebook feed, apparently the gays can get married. Or something like that (I didn't read any of those posts). I'm excited not only because legalizing gay marriage is the right thing to do, but because I've learned weddings are the best way to pick up chicks. So, more weddings means more girls, which is totally not gay (not for me, anyway).

Even more importantly, the term "holy matrimony" is single-person code for "massive party" where everyone gets wasted and has a blast. And you know who throws the best parties? The gays, which means gay weddings are going to be fucking awesome.

So hooray to all my homosexual brethren and sistren! You've now earned the right to be as miserable as every one of my married friends. But before you can be miserable, go weeks without sex, get hit with under-the-cover farts, feel the frustration that comes from your husband/wife's lack of dishwashing ability and sit through countless uncomfortable Thanksgiving dinners, you need to get wild.Here, to help you get wild, are 10 gay-friendly songs sure to make any party fabulous.

Save Ferris frontwoman Monique Powell could find herself in legal hotwater over the decision to do a reunion show at the OC Fair without any of the other original members.

The singer was recently sued by her former bandmates for falsely promoting what's been billed as a reunion show at Costa Mesa's Pacific Amphitheatre on July 27. A conversation with the band's original guitarist Brian Mashburn confirmed that he and his former bandmates Bill Uechi, Eric Zamora, Brian Williams, Oliver Zavala and Evan Kilbourne were definitely not happy about the announcement about the show back in April. Now, they're seeking unspecified damages for promoting the Pacific date as a proper Save Ferris appearance and an injunction that would prevent Powell from using the moniker ever again. Harsh? Eh, not really, according to Mashburn, considering Powell never even told the band what her plans were for the show.

On Monday, a presale for OC Fair's Pacific Amphitheater series came up advertising a Save Ferris with The English Beat and The Originalites lineup for July 27. For the kids who remember the 1990s, it was a huge deal. Save Ferris was a big, big band during ska's heyday, almost (but of course not quite like) No Doubt. No one really knows how they broke up, but when the annoucement went up, Facebook was immediately atwitter (hah! see what I did there?) with comments from the kids from the '90s, messaging each other to a) make sure it was the whole band and 2) buy tickets.

On Thursday night, EDM trio Major Lazer brought everything from dance hall, reggae, hip hop, house, electro, dubstep, moombahton, trap and drum & bass to The Observatory in Santa Ana. This bass-heavy bacchanal was unlike the typical dance music shows we attend, with lots of crowd interaction and get down music all night long. The venue which holds over 1,200 people was packed (yet not sold out) and felt like sauna with all of the sweaty, booty-popping fans in attendance. Not to mention that half the girls there were just wanting to express themselves to Diplo or drool over his hotness. And of course there were plenty of hot girls on stage twerking it for the guys as well.

Flashy lights and lasers adorned the room when Diplo, Jillionaire and Walshy Fire took to the stage to "get the party started," as they yelled over the mic around 12am. Everyone followed suit putting their hands in the air and jumping up and down to all of the hard electro. The mic was noticeably on too loud as Walshy's voice echoed over the jamming reggae inspired sounds which were carefully spliced together with all of the banging EDM. It really didn't seem to matter however, as he incited everyone to put their lighters and cell phones up while their heart rates increased to the rhythms. They even incorporated hip-hop classics with this years hits like Jay-Z's "N*ggas in Paris."

Look what someone sent us from backstage at the Yost Theater in the the downtown Santa Ana Art District. A "Notice to All Opening DJs" laminated and taped on the speakers backstage. If you'll remember, we posted a very similar list (almost identical, actually) a couple weeks ago called "Top Five Codes of Conduct for Opening DJs at EDM Shows." We're hoping it was a decent conversation starter that prompted opening DJs to be creative with their sets and respect their headliners. Our list was spammed all over the internet a few days after we posted it, which tells us the topic of DJ etiquette is a real issue in the dance music scene in Orange County. But kuddos to the Yost Theater for at least doing something about it and continuing to bring respected DJs to OC week after week...and for paying attention to our blog.

On the eve before 4th of July, LA-based promoters Giant brought Grammy-nominated DJ/producer Morgan Page to the Yost Theater in the Santa Ana Arts District for a special Orange County holiday event. Currently touring to promote his latest album In The Air, Page recieved an enthusiastic OC welcome to this sold out Tuesday night event. The excitement from electronic dance music fans and party people echoed through the crowd as lines formed outside the venue wrapping around the corner.

Giant DJ Ryan Sage did a solid job of warming up the crowd as EDM lovers filled the venue and swarmed the dance floor. At one point, you couldn't even go down the stairwell onto the floor because it was so packed. As house and electro boomed from the Yost massive sound system everyone was slamming shots and pounding drinks as it felt like a Friday night since most people had the 4th off. The entire upstairs was filled as well and the VIP tables were packed with glow stick armed partiers ready to rage and get their dance on.

Now that the dust has settled in Sin City, it's time to take a look at all that went on during this long week of electronic dance music madness, including most of the parties you didn't see. From the time we arrived at the inaugural EDMbiz Conference at the Cosmopolitan Hotel, the strip was filled with a plethora of events from club nights, pool parties, festivals and massive events all over Las Vegas from Tuesday, June 5th - Monday, June 12th. Insomniac partnered with the TAO Group for EDC Week Events at LAVO, Marquee, TAO and Drais after hours. That doesn't even include all the events at the surrounding properties. Here is our run down of the top five events.

Courtesy of SpyOnVegas.com

Markus Schulz and Ferry Corsten at Tao Beach

5. Tao Beach at the Venetian Hotel with Markus Schulz and Ferry Corsten Back to Back--Sunday, June 10th

Tao Beach was the place to be on Sunday for these two legendary DJs teaming up at the infamous pool party at the Venetian Hotel. Markus Schulz and Ferry Corsten's style are complementary and it's no wonder that they kept the crowd going crazy at this party for over five hours. Schulz' deep, hard progressive style compliments Ferry's melody-infused trance sound. The pool party was packed as trance fans from all over the world came together on this amazing day of music and good weather. Corsten dropped his songs like "Check it Out" and "Punk," which were followed masterfully by Schulz's darker tracks from "Coldharbour" and "LA12." Possessed by the sound system (and plenty of alcohol) high-rollers spent the day dancing up and down in their cabanas, while the half-naked masses swarmed the dance floor and the shallow end of the pool to live out their MTV Spring Break fantasies.Two signs that shit was popping off: the party lasted until well after 6:30pm (two hours later than it was scheduled for) and at one point, Schulz grabbed a unicorn mask from the crowd and started DJing with it on.

Twenty years ago this month, Sublime released their first album: 40oz. to Freedom. At that point drummer Floyd "Bud" Gaugh, bassist Eric Wilson and singer-songwriter Bradley Nowell were just three guys from Long Beach. No record deal, no tour, no nothing. They sold records at shows and out of the back of their car.
But the album they created was a unique mix of hip-hop samples, furious punk, Spanish raps, and strange songs that were fueled by Nowell's rough brilliance. And the cover of 40oz. to Freedom -- a drawing of a depressed sun tripping out on itself -- would go on to be forever associated with a band that has now sold over 17 million albums internationally.

I must be living under a rock, because it was only this weekend that a friend showed me the viral video on YouTube of a woman named Sweet Brown. She escaped an apartment fire and gave an interview to Oklahoma City's KFOR News Channel. With all the charisma of a preacher, she retold her story of how she went down to get a cold pop ("soda" for all you West Coast peoples) smelled something in the air and, in her own words, realized "Oh Lord Jesus, it's a fire!" She went on to speak of spoke inhalation and how, with bronchitis, she didn't have no time for that!More »